Everton required a late equalizer from Seamus Coleman to save the Blues blushes after a flat first half performance put them under the gun yet again. After the game, manager Ronald Koeman spoke about what he said at halftime to get the players going.
| @RonaldKoeman wasn't a happy man at half time - here's what he said to his players. pic.twitter.com/yd4Kv8QqY9
— Everton (@Everton) November 19, 2016
“I was not calm because we spoke a lot about about what happened at Chelsea.
“We spoke about how we need to start. We spoke about the opponent that they are in a difficult situation - from the start [we needed to] be aggressive, press, make it difficult so they are not comfortable on the pitch and it was not like that.
“I was angry because we know how we need to play but some players in the team it’s difficult to have that attitude maybe but okay the reaction in the second half we saw but not in the first half.”
Koeman also said he felt the Blues well-deserved their tying goal.
“Of course, in the second half, we did a lot of good things and played some good football. We won every second ball and had good pressing. Then we made it difficult for them.
"It was a great goal and important to make it 1-1. You don’t expect - maybe from a set play but not out of a normal situation on the pitch - that you will have only three defenders and one will score.
“We took a lot of risks with our substitutions and even at 1-1 we did everything to win the game. That Seamus scored that goal with so many players in front of him was fantastic.”
He commented on the slow starts, which are now becoming a worrying trend, especially at home.
"It's wasn't the result you'd expect before the game, but there was a big difference between the first and second half.
"It was really flat and there was less aggression. We had to start the game how we did in the second half, because that was a different team. We made it more difficult for our opponents.
"We spoke about it before the match but maybe it was a question of confidence after the 5-0 defeat against Chelsea. I don't know, because we spoke about starting aggressively, not like that.
“We did not create a lot of open chances, not all the crosses were very good. But at least they weren’t as comfortable as in the first half.
"That was a different attitude and what we expected from the start. But maybe a lack of confidence that we need. But I don’t understand why we needed to be one nil down to get that reaction.”